Cartons are useful for allowing consumers to purchase and transport a desired quantity of articles such as soft drinks. For the convenience of the consumer, some cartons have dispensers which allow the articles to be removed one at a time while continuing to encase the remaining articles. However, more than one article is often dispensed at a time from the carton which unfortunately leads to many of the articles being dispensed onto the consumer's floor. This is because articles within the carton are not sufficiently restrained by the carton.
Another problem with known dispensing cartons is that after the endmost article is removed from the carton through the dispenser, another article is not pushed forward up to the dispenser so that it can also be removed by the consumer at a subsequent time. This often is because there is insufficient back pressure on the articles remaining within the carton.
Also, it is often desirable to have a large surface area on the exterior of the carton for labeling and advertising. However, in order to utilize the dispensing features of known dispensing cartons, portions of the carton may be permanently removed or positioned such that the available surface area is reduced.
Therefore, there is a need for an improved carton having a dispenser that is adapted to adequately restrain the articles within the carton while also facilitating access to the endmost article to be dispensed from the carton. The improved carton must also appeal to the customer while maximizing the available surface area for advertising.